Garment pressing devices take many shapes and forms. One category of garment pressing devices includes devices for ironing shirts, blouses and similar articles of clothing. Typically, shirt-pressing devices include a shirt mannequin or form, conventionally referred to as a buck. The buck has the form of a shirt wearer with front, back and opposing lateral sides therebetween on which a shirt or blouse or similar garment, referred to hereinafter as a shirt, is placed and fitted. Many bucks have shirt shoulder rods that are extended outward from the opposing lateral sides of the buck to support the shoulders of a shirt in proper orientation during an ironing operation and are connected to air bags that are moved outward into an inflated or extended position from the opposing sides of the buck by the extension of the shoulder rods, which are movable between extended and retracted positions, the shoulder rods being attached to the air bags by, for example, a spring and/or a tether to expand the shirt body during operation of the garment pressing device. In normal operation of the garment-pressing device, the shoulder rods are retracted, as are the side air bags to permit an ironed shirt to be easily removed from the buck and to facilitate placement of a shirt on the buck prior to being pressed.
Typically, these garment pressing devices include a fan or blower for blowing room air, which may be filtered, to facilitate drying of the shirt and to inflate the aforementioned air bags to expand shirts whose widths are larger than the width of the buck during operation of the garment pressing device. The air may be heated, if desired, using a conventional air heater. Also, the air can be blown into the sleeves of the shirt to inflate and dry the sleeves while the body of the shirt is pressed using heated plates or platens that are movable toward and away from a shirt on the buck.
Some shirt pressers operate using pneumatic controls that employ compressed air provided by an air compressor, with heated platens being moved relative to the buck using conventional pneumatic circuits and controls. Semi-automatic operation is typical, providing control over the relative movement between the buck and the platens to an operator using suitable controls, e.g., foot pedals and hand controller switches and levers. Such circuits and controls may include, for example, air pumps, air compressors, electrical and pneumatic motors, pump controls, motor controls, pneumatic circuits, electrical and electronic circuits, pneumatic controller(s) and electrical/electronic controller(s).
Prior art shirt-pressing devices may employ inflatable side air bags that are designed to permit ironing of shirt bodies of different sizes, including shirts that are larger in width and diameter than the width and diameter of the buck. However, such devices still have problems in producing acceptably ironed shirts. For example, operation of prior art shirt-pressing devices occasionally result in pressed shirts having areas which are not properly pressed. For example, shirt seams where shirt sleeves join the shirt body often are not properly pressed. These seams, when pressed, may have undesired creases, or these seams may not be fully pressed. Moreover, portions of the shirt sleeves and/or shirt body adjacent to these seams often have creases or are not fully pressed, and/or the seams and sleeves and adjacent shirt body may have a puckered appearance after being pressed. Some of these problems are attributable to the differing sizes of shirts, especially large sized shirts, not being properly smoothed by prior art shirt pressing devices prior to being pressed.